KOLKATA, Feb 20:
Indian seamers fired in unison after Suryakumar Yadav’s belligerent fifty as the hosts coasted to a series-sweeping 17-run win over the West Indies in the third and final T20I here on Sunday.
After Deepak Chahar limped off the field after failing to complete the third over due to a hamstring injury, Harshal Patel (3/22), Venkatesh Iyer (2/23 from 2.1 overs) and Shardul Thakur (2/33) performed their tasks impressively to defend India’s 184/5.
Wicket-keeper batter Nicholas Pooran continued his fine form slamming a third successive fifty (61 off 47 balls; 8×4, 1×6) but it was not enough as West Indies managed just 167 for nine.
For Rohit, it was his third successive clean sweep as fulltime skipper, having earlier defeated New Zealand (0-3) in T20Is and West Indies (0-3) in ODIs. The win also matched their 2020 record of nine successive victories on the trot.
For the West Indies, this was their third successive bilateral series defeats away from home — 0-2 to New Zealand in 2020-21 and 0-3 to Pakistan 2021-22 — as they capped a forgettable India sojourn losing six matches on the trot (including three in the ODI leg).
Though ebutant pacer Avesh Khan (4-0-42-0) struggled with his line, Chahar made early inroads for India early on removing both the openers — Kayle Mayers (6) and Shai Hope (8) — in the space of 11 deliveries inside the powerplay.
Chahar swung the ball both ways and also smartly changed his pace to deceive the Windies openers and gave the first breakthrough in the fifth ball after India reviewed it successfully to dismiss Mayers.
In his next over, he took the outside edge of Hope with a peach of an outswinger and looked on fire before he sustained an injury and limped off the field without completing his over.
In absence of Chahar, Harshal stepped it up displaying his brilliant cricketing mind as he executed his slower ones to perfection to be the wrecker-in-chief.
Earlier, Suryakumar Yadav unleashed his brute power on way to a 31-ball 65, and was well supported by all-rounder Venkatesh (35 not out off 19) as India posted a challenging 184 for five after being put in to bat.
Suryakumar smashed seven sixes and one boundary in an exceptional display of power-hitting before getting out for his career-best T20 score in the final delivery.
Pace bowling all-rounder Venkatesh smashed four fours and two sixes at the other end as the duo put together 91 runs from 37 balls for the fourth wicket to help India recover from a mini middle order collapse.(PTI)
SCOREBOARD
India:
Ruturaj Gaikwad c K Mayers b Holder 4
Ishan Kishan b Roston Chase 34
Shreyas Iyer c Holder b Hayden Walsh 25
Rohit Sharma b Dominic Drakes 7
Suryakumar Yadav c Rovman Powell b Romario Shepherd 65
Venkatesh Iyer not out 35
Extras: (lb-10, w-4) 14
Total: 184/5 in 20 overs
Fall of wickets: 10-1, 63-2, 66-3, 93-4, 184-5
Bowling: Jason Holder 4-0-29-1, Romario Shepherd 4-0-50-1, Roston Chase 4-0-23-1, Hayden Walsh 4-0-30-1, Dominic Drakes 3-0-37-1, Fabian Allen 1-0-5-0.
West Indies:
Kyle Mayers c Ishan Kishan b Chahar 6
Shai Hope c Ishan Kishan b Chahar 8
Nicholas Pooran c Isha Kihsan b Thakur 61
Rovman Powell c Thakur b Patel 25
Kieron Pollard c Ravi Bishnoi b V Iyer 5
Jason Holder c S Iyer b V Iyer 2
Roston Chase b Patel 12
Romario Shepherd c Sharma b Patel 29
Fabian Allen not out 5
Dominic Drakes c Sharma b Thakur 4
Hayden Walsh not out 0
Extras (LB-3, WD-7) 10
Total (For 9 wickets in 20 overs) 167
Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-26, 3-73, 4-82, 5-87, 6-100, 7-148, 8-158, 9-166.
Bowling: Deepak Chahar 1.5-0-15-2, Avesh Khan 4-0-42-0, Venkatesh Iyer 2.1-0-23-2, Shardul Thakur 4-0-33-2, Ravi Bishnoi 4-0-29-0, Harshal Patel 4-0-22-3.
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